Nathalie and Nathan Spicker

A Blog Post...But not Really!

2010-08-01T21:35:00.000-07:00

Some of you may have decided to completely stop checking in to see how The Spicker Clan is doing, seeing as Nathalie's last update was from more than a year ago. But for those few who continue to take a gander, knowing full well there will be no new post, I decided to make this post. If only just to surprise you and to spice things up a bit. Now you'll get to see this every time you check the blog instead of the nerdy Twilight picture of the three amazingly beautiful girls waiting anxiously to get their Edward and Jacob fix (I Swing Both Way Ladies!)

Nathalie BTW had a baby..her name is Paige and she is now ONE! Paige is probably the reason there has been new blog posts. Not because she is a "spirited" child, though she has been walking for 2 months already, but because Nathalie spends all her time making beautiful bows to accessorize all of Paige's outfits. She has been known to question her husband when taking their child out to a party while Nathalie is away on business..."What did you have Paige wear?". Because all Mom's instantly ask their husbands what they dressed their child in when they find out they took them to a BBQ. Nathalie is so devoted! Check out her super stylish and Got to Have Bows and Accessories Here

Grace Caroline Hand Crafted Hair Accessories!

And despite having had the baby, moved to Utah and bought a house Nathalie still finds time to travel and work for the airlines. Her next trip is planned for Taiwan. She is one crazy Momma!

Catching you up...

2009-01-25T19:40:00.000-08:00

I have been a HORRIBLE blogger as of late! I will try to catch you up a little.

All the way back in November, we all know what movie came out. There were girls nights planned all over the United States, for that blessed movie, Twlight. There were only two people I wanted to see that movie with, Krista and Candice! Way back when it was Krista that insisted I read the Twlight Series, and then I insisted our friend Candice read it. We sat around and talked about Edward all that summer. I called Krista when I found out the movie was coming out and insisted that she fly from California up to Utah to watch it with me. She resisted, but I didn't give her a choice in the matter. Krista has been working hard and doesn't get to see her girls as much as she likes, so I know it was a sacrifice for her to come up on her days off. It turned out to be a great weekend, a really great weekend! We saw the movie twice, got make up done, pedicures, and ate a lot! I miss these girls. Candice is in Utah now and Krista in California. I am so grateful we got to spend time together, again.

Barcelona, Spain

2008-11-12T14:37:00.000-08:00

Passion Facade on the Sagrada Familia. This facade was completed by one of his successors, Jacob Subirachs.

Spires on the Sagrada Familia. Antonio Guadi was the architect for the unfinished work of the Sagrada Familia. He died in 1926, and the Temple is still under construction. Guadi was very unconventional and actually lived inside the Temple during his last years.

The Criptogram. There are 310 possible ways to equate 33 (the age of Jesus at death)

Another angle of the passion facade and columns

The spiral staircases at the Sagrada Familia, look like snails

The nativity facade on the Sagrada Familia, my favorite! I wish you could see the detail!

Inside the staircases on the Sagrada Familia

Gaudi's Casa Batllo

Nate on a Lion at the Christopher Columbus Column in Barcelona

Joseph and Robyn in the Parc de la cuitadella.

Sometimes we just have a weird way of showing someone we love them!

Us at the Parc de la cuitadella

Just doing some stretching before our big day in Barcelona! You have to prepare somehow, Nate is a little relentless when sight seeing...sun up to sun down...no stoping no breaks!

Sad cry for attention from our husbands!

Just showing what happens when you eat Kinder Buenos all day! ;)

I am starting to make the same expressions as my mother! Scary! Very Scary!

Finally a decent pic!

Momments before the heist happened...maybe the robber saw these guys and figured they would be pretty easy to steal from! We made Nate and Joseph model the scarves they bought us! We then went to lunch, where sadly Robyn and Joseph got their camera, wallet, and passports stolen! Not Cool! Not Cool at ALL!

I looked for this lizzard FOREVER!

Gauddi Park, Barcelona

Didn't have a mirror...I had to check my hair somehow!

"Hey I am Robyn, and I'm Joseph we just got robbed in Barcelona!" They tried hard to seem like they were having fun, but I think they were faking it a little bit! They actually handled the whole situation a lot better than I would have

Zaragoza, Spain

2008-11-12T14:04:00.000-08:00

We left Barcelona a little disappointed because of Robyn and Joseph getting there things stolen. We had spent all morning at the Embassy in Barcelona getting Rob and Joe new passports. It did put a little damper on an otherwise great trip. We rented a car in Barcelona, against everyone's advice and we started our drive to Madrid. Nate had wanted to make a stop midway in this city, Zaragoza. It was litterally 3 hours from Barcelona and 3 from Madrid. We got off the freeway as the sun was going down. We started driving into town and boom out of nowhere, El Pillar. A beautiful, gorgeous cathedral. We all started screaming and I jumped out of the car to get a pic with the sun shining on it. It was really one of the coolest things I have seen. We parked our car and started running around to see everything before the sun went down. What a great city. Probably the cleanest city I have come across in a while, with nothing under contruction. We all perked up and left Zaragoza happy and excited for the last part of our trip! Had we not rented a car and took the train like everyone told us, we would have never found this gem. For me it was the highlight of our trip. There are no words to explain how awesone this big little city was,in the middle of nowhere!

Robyn and I taking on the world!

Robyn and Joseph in happier times!

Nate has a gift of getting just the right pictures. Watching him getting these pictures is purely entertaining. He calles himself hyper hippo. He speed walks with his camera around his neck trying to get every little detail. It is hard to keep an eye on him. He is known to disappear with everyone screaming his name trying to find him. It drives me batty, because I always start thinking he was kiddnapped and sold as a love slave! He does get some awesome pics though!

I have a thing for statues..They sit and listen to me talk for hours and never interupt!

So Quaint!....

Beautiful streets of Zaragoza at night.

One more picture of El Pillar before we get back in the car, and continue on too Madrid...

Madrid Spain

2008-11-10T14:23:00.000-08:00

Big Daddy showing just how strong he really is. These buildings were designed by the same dude that designed the twin towers.

This is the coolest fountain in the middle of the busiest intersection in Madrid. I think I like it the most because a chick is driving it!

Random..but cool

The Palace in Madrid

The Madrid Temple! Robyn met up with an old mission companion, Diana. Now here is a COOL chick. She has the best spanish accent, much different from a mexican accent. I kept making her say words over and over again, while I would jump up and down laughing. And can I just say this girl oozes with style! Robyn has the coolest friends!

This is me, being me, feeling sorry for myself and pouting in the cold cold rain. I HATE being cold.

I started getting more and more moody. I am not what you call a trouper in these conditions!

But if you get me and Robyn Venti Starbucks Hot Chocolate's with loads of whip cream...life is somewhat bareable. Until we run out of hot chocolate and then it's back to poor poor Nathalie and Robyn being drug around a beautiful city, half way accross the world! Oh bless Nate for marrying me!

Talking a little nap while everyone else is squished in coach!

Robyn and I do Santa Monica!

2008-11-05T12:19:00.000-08:00

I brought my friend Robyn on our trip to Hawaii. We decided to stop in Santa Monica for a day to see an old friend of hers..Rachel, and to also have a little girl time. We ended up having a really great day. We spent way too much money! Way too much money! We ate at great hip restaurants,got pedicures, went on a mini shopping spree on the 3rd Street Promenade. We also had a great night sitting and talking to her friends Rachel and Steve. Nothing like great conversation! Santa Monica was probably the highlinght of my trip. It was a perfect beginning to a week of pampering.

Robyn and I with her friend Rachel and her daughter Sabine

Rachel's husband works in the movie industry. He edits like the special effects in movies or something like that. Whatever it is it's cool...He was gracious enough to invite us to his office to see what he gets to do everyday.

He let me and Robyn try on some thingy that some character's wear in the upcoming Christmas movie Nutcracker. The bad guys where them...we were trying to look scary!

Awwww! 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica. A shopping delight!

We couldn't help ourselves when we saw MAC. We got a quick makeover. Our makeup artist was GORGEOUS!

Great ending to a perfect day!

I have lot's to Catch you up on!

2008-11-01T06:24:00.000-07:00

I have a lot to catch you up on! I will be trying to update my post in the next few days...it's been a little crazy in the travel department these days. Yes, I went to hawaii again! My brother Steve wanted to take a few friends to Kauai, so I said I would get him some buddy passes, but I was coming too! After all Hawaii is my favorite place on earth. Ofcourse my husband,my sister, my mother, and friends wanted to come too....so off we went! We had a great time and my big brother Steve proposed to a beautiful girl Jen. It's official Steve is FINALLY off the market. We love Jen and look foward to her and her daughter, Taeva, (I'm sure I spelt that wrong) being a part of the Crazy Christiansen Clan. So I just posted a few pics....it takes forever to post pics on here!

So The pictures below just crack me up! I was trying to get a cute photo by the waterfall with big daddy and when I tried getting back of the railing I had some issues, as you can see!

A Day in Copenhagen...

2008-09-17T18:18:00.000-07:00

Nate and I decided to go to Copenhagen for the weekend. We left on Saturday afternoon and returned Monday afternoon. When I tell people this they think we are crazy, but it is actually really fun. When we go to europe we make sure business class is always open so we sit up front in chairs that are like really comfy recliners with your own personal video screen with like 15 movies to choose from.. It is a red eye there so I usually make myself sleep for at least 6-8 hours of the flight. You get meals and lots of really good snacks including warm homemade cookies and ice cream. If we actually bought the tickets they would probably be a couple of thousand dollars each, but its free for us so we gotta take advantage...right? So anyway we got off the plane at 9 am and off we went. Copenhagen was beautiful and very easy to get around. We saw everything we had planned and were back at the hotel at 8 pm and fast asleep by 8:30 pm. We woke up the next morning at 8, got ready and back to the airport.

This is a famous statue of The Little Mermaid written by Hans Christian Anderson. According to my dad he was in Copenhagen 35years ago on his way home from his mission in Sweden and saw the same statue.

These guys kind of freaked me out a little. They would push people away that would get to close to take a picture by them.

Look closely do you see anything familiar... If you have never been to The Temple Square Visitors Center, this is Thorvaldsen's original Cristus Statue in the Vor Frue Kirke.

President Packer told a story about President Kimball and this statue in April 2008's General Conference.

We took a canal tour around and through Copenhagen.

Nyhavn

So I did get a little jet lagged half way through the day. Nate wanted to go to the top of this church to see a view of the city. I opted to stay back and actually fell asleep for a few minutes. You can barely see me in the picture below. Now I found it odd that it was mid day on Sunday and there was NO ONE in any of the churches we visited.

A Statue of Hans Christians Anderson...what a hottie!

I saw this and just melted. I really wanted to buy it, but thought better of it. Cant you see My little Camryn Reading in this dress....soo cute!

Changing of The Gaurd at the Palace

Our trip to Kona, HI with The Dunkley's!

2008-08-31T14:35:00.001-07:00

You all better read this post because it took me FOREVER to download all these flippin pictures! Nate and I just got back from going to hawaii...again! We brought his old childhood friend Robert, his wife Noelle, and his older brother Benjamin and his wife Naleen. We had such a great time. The Big Island is so diverse it had the most AMAZING snorkeling and just had amazing scenery. We got along great, and everyone was always up for an adventure. I was defeinetly the wimp of the group, which is pretty usual. Nate and I always laugh so hard when we are around Robert and his wife. By the end of the trip I decided we would move to Utah and live in there basement! Nate had other thoughts ofcourse! I am still working on him!

This was my favorite beach we went to on the big island. The hotel there is under construction and not open so there was hardly anyone there!

Robert has a bit of a problem with food. I looked over at him and just started laughing. I made him hold his pose and took this picture. Probably the best thing about Robert is his love of junk food..especially candy, so he always had candy for everyone to snack on!

Free Pedicure! We went to these fresh water ponds and stuck are feat in to relax and these little fishies started eating are feet. I know in Japan and New York that people pay for these fish to nibble the dead skin off there feet, to make them nice and smooth. It felt kind of funny, like the fishies were giving you little kisses!

Of course the sunsets were AMAZING!

The Painted Church

We were across the street looking at the church and we noticed the HUGE mango trees across the street. The guy sitting by the church told us to go across the street and ask the ownner if we could pick some...so we did and it turns out it was his house and he kindly let us pick away...

I love watching Nate have a good time. We went to this place called Captain Cooks Monument. You had to kayak over and we seriously snorkeled in the most amazing area. There was a plethora of fish. Some we had never seen before.

Look really close at my legs. The only downfall to Capt Cook Monument was the mosquitos that atacked me and only me. I guess they thought my blood was da bomb...

Da fishies in the water!

My hubby da monkey!

Arch city, North of Honaunau
It was just amazing to watch the water came in the arches and it looked like liitle blowholes. Ill try to post a video below

Thorsten Lava Tube

Nate and everybody but me drove 2.5 hours to see The Volcano. This is as close as they got and they werent thrilled about it. In the pictures it showed people like 3 ft from flowing lava.

Just a little guilty PLEASURE!

2008-08-31T14:35:00.000-07:00

What a guilty pleasure....Season 4 of Prison break starts tommorow night! Some of you are probably wondering how I could watch such a show, but there is such a sweet love story in it that I can't resist. It is on the violent side, but I just skip over the violence and get on with my sweet love story, between sara and michael. Season 3 was horribly sad, but I have high hopes for my wenty (wentworth miller- the main character)this season. Welcome back my little guilty pleasure....

If you like Prison Break watch my link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq6owK1018k Its so sickly, corny, and sweet!

Peekaboo with a Swan

2008-08-27T05:48:00.000-07:00

This is cute Kaitlain my friends little girl. I really didn't expect her to hug the swan but she was chacing all the ducks with her arms out trying to hug them it was to cute for words!

I havent' been to the Zoo since I was a kid. I actually had a great time with Robyn and her kids. They were so fun to watch, especially Kaitlain. She has enough personality for 10 kids. We took a train ride around the zoo and kaitlain would yell, wave, and say hi to everything...Hello Duck, Hello Lion, Hello monkeys...

So much to post so little time...

2008-08-26T08:40:00.000-07:00

OOOHHHH! Obama is in town!

It really is sad that someone I dont even care for can get me so excited. I was going to the Zoo with Robyn and her kids and we passed the airport I work at and I saw snipers on top of the buildings and police morercycles and tons of police cars. And I started yelling oh ya obama is flying in and I made robyn turn around and go back and then the following happened..Dont worry it isnt that intereting if you can see the video.

i meant motorcade! :)

So then I pulled in and gotta a pic or two of his jet....what a waste of money...I cant believe how much presidential candidates spend on getting elected. He flew in talked to about 250 people and then flew out again. Can you imagine how much it costs....I read somewhere that ona private jet it costs about 200,000 to fly from new york to L.A., with the cost of fuel, pilots, maintanence, etc...Not making a political statement not all that thrilled about McCain either...What can I say I live in IOWA nothing exciting happens here!

The never ending vaca!

2008-08-15T22:27:00.001-07:00

Holler! Sorry we have been MIA. Nate and I have been out of town for almost two weeks. We took a looong vacation. We went to New York with Ryan and Mical, stopped by Utah two defferent times, and went to Kona HI with our new second family the Dunkley's. When we are back in Iowa Ill update with pics and stuff....just dont forget about us!

Have you ever dropped your curling iron on your face!

2008-07-20T18:30:00.000-07:00

I cant say the picture did the actual burn justice. It happened sunday right before church. I was curling my bangs and the thing slipped out of my hand and rolled down my eye. I was suprised how bad it hurt. I pointed the fan in our room towards my eyeball and had myselp a pity party while nate rubbed my back. IT REALLY HURT! Kind of looks like a nice shade of eyeshadow, though!

A tale of two trips!

2008-07-13T16:30:00.000-07:00

Well just wanted to post a few pics of our last couple of weekends. A couple of weeks ago I went to Las Vegas to see friends and family and besides a total blow out with someone, (you don't want to hear to the gory details) it went really well. I met my brother's new girl Jen, who I am very impressed with and hung out with old dear friends and my family. I love being with my family we laugh a lot...sometimes too much at my mother's expense.... My big daddy (aka nate) went to panama city because he had class at work and couldn't make it in time for Vegas so he went to Panama City, Panama with his friend Nathan Lee. I think Nate likes going on those kind of trips with a guy because I am a beach bum and he is more adventerous than I....

Nate kind of ran into the temple that they just built in Panama. The open house was this week so he just missed it...

Nate met a little friend when he was in panama. He taught nate his tricks of the trade!

I guess this is a sloth, I have no idea what they do. I thought itwas a funky monkey...

Nate is the best dresser I know, but I don't know where he came up with this cute gettup...a striped polo shirt and plaid boardshorts!

My mom found a cute sippie cup for our little brody...she was pretty impressed with it

Back in the old days I played craps a little. I taught karen all I knew she doubled her money in five minutes and then we got out there. I saw the look of addiction in her eyes and knew we had to high tell it back to our room!

It took my dad two days to finally get us to go to the M and M Candy Factory. That is the only thing he had his heart set on doing I guess. He wanted to get Light Blue m&ms for his office, but at 12 dollars a pound he decided to pass.

My parents, sister, and I at David Copperfields magic show..it was awful!!! I hate to say it because we watched his shows on tv as we grew up. He is past his prime and didn't seem to thrilled to being doing the show anymore. No one was more disappointed than Karen who tried to get his attention most of the night with her

Darn that trip to Brazil....

2008-07-02T20:18:00.000-07:00

Its wednesday and I am trying to watch the only show I enjoy in the summer...So You Think YOu Can Dance. As I try to watch intently, I hear out of the other side of the room my big daddy (Nate's Nickname) speaking portuguese with his earphones in. He can't stand so you think you can dance so instead of wasting time doing nothing,like me, he is reading portuguese from online lessons. After about an hour of that he started singing in Portuguese, again with his earphones on. Has anyone heard nate sing in english? Imagine that but way worse. I don't think he knows I am writing this blog about him while he sits 5 ft from me singing song after song after song. At one point he turned around and starting singing to me, he claims he was serenading me. How did I get so lucky! It all started when we went to Brazil, Nov 2006, with some of our friends. He wanted to learn as much of the language as he could before we went and since he has been been back he religously reads his Book of Mormon in Portuguese...outloud. Nothing makes me cringe more. He works on his accent and for some reason it drives me insane...I usually yell for him to read in english and then I stomp upstairs out of his hearing range. (my friends we are going on three hours and he is still singing...he has the words on the screen so he can say them right, as he sings) All that aside I am super impressed that he litterally has taught himself to speak a different language all by himself. He is quite fluent now I love the man, but my goodness please please stop singing in portuguese! I decided to post some pics from Brazil...enjoy!

Nate's friend Kelly fell asleep right on this random ladies shoulder, while on the bus. The lady was really cute about it. He was asleep for a good 15 minutes

Nate and I on Cococabana beach in Rio

Check out the guy in the background!

We woke up one morning to find this guy cleaning our window..Random!

I think the Corcavado is one of the "new 7 wonders of the world"

View from the top of the Corcavado ( The Statue of Christ )

Nate, I, Robert. and Noelle Dunkley in Rio De Janeiro

Walking down memory lane....

2008-06-26T16:22:00.000-07:00

So...I had a trip planned to vegas to hang out with my bro steve and meet his new lady friend, Jen. My best friend Mical lives in vegas and I have not seen or talked to her in ages so I came in a day early to spend the night and catch up. Well we were up until well after 2am talking and her BEAUTIFUL 4 kids felt that 6 am would be a great time to start the day. So I have been dragging around her house in my pajama pants (just like in college) and we have been giggling about the idiotic things we did in college. we went through her pics and we decided to share a few...i dont have an explanation for some of the outfit choices...it was college! Mical doesnt remember the last time she wore leopard print anything...

I want one of these!

2008-06-23T14:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I was looking to see if clean flicks was still around. I guess it's not, but I found this cool product. It is a DVD player that edits movies as you are watching them. And its only like 70 dollars. There are a ton of movies that I want to see but don't because I know they have a lot of questionable sceanes. I need one of these!
There is an interview with Matt Lauer on the Today Show showing how it works

www.clearplay.com

About ClearPlay
What is ClearPlay?

Great question! ClearPlay is a fancy DVD Player that can play regular DVD movies -- but without profanity, violence and nudity.

Wow! How does that work?

It's really quite ingenious. We create filtering information on a movie by movie basis, and then put those "filters" into the DVD player. This way, the DVD player knows when to skip or mute while the movie is playing.

I'm back and I am never leaving...

2008-06-22T19:41:00.000-07:00

So..I love to read everyone's blog, but I hate writing one. I have managed one post in the last year! Whoops! I guess my life doesn't sound near as interesting as everyone else's. Krista is always wanting me to write about my traveling experiences, but I worry that will get boring to you all. So I am going to try to highlight some of the trips I have been on, in the last 4 years, as well as daily happenings! Stay tuned!